Press Release

HEAR THE MUSIC OF LEGENDARY COMPOSER
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA WITH FIREWORKS
AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Saturday, September 22, 8:30 PM

Conductor Larry Curtis Leads The American Winds Concert Band
With Vocalist Renee Sousa, Tuba Soloist Patrick Sheridan And Xylophone Player John Magnussen

Bring the family and join the fun when the American Winds Concert Band, led by conductor Larry Curtis, fills the Hollywood Bowl with great, classic marches at the Bowl’s annual band concert on Saturday, September 22, at 8:30 p.m. During this evening full of traditional songs and marches, Sousa’s great grand-niece and vocalist Renee Sousa, tuba player Patrick Sheridan and xylophonist John Magnussen appear as soloists with the American Winds. The concert, includes several Sousa marches, ending with the Bowl’s final fireworks display of the summer.

Tickets ($1-75) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations) or online at www.hollywoodbowl.com. Groups of 10 or more may receive a 20% discount on single ticket prices; call 323/850-2050 for details. For general information or to request a brochure, please call 323/850-2000.

This evening of musical enjoyment for the entire family will feature such pieces as Saint-Saens’ Marche Heroique, Wagner’s Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral, a xylophone solo entitled The Golden Age of the Xylophone, Ira Hearshen’s Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa, and John Dankworth’s Decline and Fall of a Bridge.

Renee Sousa will sing a selection of songs and Patrick Sheridan will wow the audience with a set on the tuba, concluding with Flight of the Bumble Bee. Sousa’s Semper Fidelis, Liberty Bell and Stars and Stripes Forever and several surprise marches through out the program will round out the concert.

The AMERICAN WINDS CONCERT BAND, a professional wind band with symphonic instrumentation, performed its inaugural concert, under their director Larry Curtis, as part of the 1999 Hollywood Bowl summer season. This event marked the first professional wind band concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The American Winds returned to the Bowl last season to perform a concert exploring the history of band music, From Ragtime to Our Time.

Author, performer, educator, and conductor LARRY CURTIS is the founder of the American Winds Concert Band, a professional wind band that performed its inaugural concert as part of the Hollywood Bowl’s 1999 summer festival. He also serves as Director of Music for the city of Long Beach, where he conducts the Long Beach Municipal Band, which is enjoying its 92nd continuous year of service. Curtis’ recent conducting engagements have included appearances with the Sydney Wind Orchestra of Australia, the Los Angeles Brass Ensemble, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and the Americus Brass Band. He most recently appeared at the Hollywood Bowl last summer.

Soprano RENEE SOUSA is a multifaceted performer who is at home on both the operatic and concert stage. During the past year Sousa made her debut with Los Angeles Opera as Lolette in La rondine and sang the title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah with California Opera. She has also appeared as Mimì in La bohème for Arizona Opera, Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Santa Barbara Grand Opera, and Alexandra in Opera Pacific’s production of Marc Blitzstein’s Regina at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Other operatic engagements include the roles of Gertrude in Hänsel und Gretel, and Serpina in Pergolesi’s La serva padrona. Renee Sousa’s activities on the concert stage include an appearance with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall in a unique concert exploring the influence of the classical repertoire on popular music. She performed Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Los Angeles Symphonic Camerata and was featured as a soloist in the William Hall Master Chorale’s presentation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Other concert solo performances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the La Mirada Symphony, the Los Angeles presentation of Robert Strassburg’s contemporary choral symphony, Leaves of Grass, David Tamkin’s The Dybuk, the Brahms German Requiem, and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer and Rückert Lieder.

Tuba virtuoso PATRICK SHERIDAN has been enthusiastically received as a solo artist around the world. He made his solo debut playing an arrangement of The Blue Bells of Scotland accompanied by his mom when he was just 10 years old, only months after he had started playing the tuba. Since he made his solo orchestral debut at the age of 15, Patrick has rocketed to success in venues ranging from the White House to an NBA half-time show. As a former member of “The President’s” Own United States Marine Band, he thrilled audiences across the United States with his amazing virtuosity and musicianship as one of the band’s primary soloists. In addition to having studied with legendary tuba artists Arnold Jacobs, Daniel Perantoni, Harvey Phillips and Jim Self, Sheridan is a Clinician/Artist for Boosey & Hawkes.

JOHN MAGNUSSEN is known throughout the Los Angeles area as a top percussionist. Primarily known as a specialist in mallet percussion, he can be heard and seen playing anything from timpani to xylophone, bass drum to snares, dumbek to electronics. He has played jazz vibraphone on many recordings including those of Sarah Vaughn and Richard Green. He has performed on numerous television shows and has appeared with Annie Lennox and Liza Minnelli on The Tonight Show. Magnussen has played percussion with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, John Williams, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. He has recorded with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and for many films and television commercials. Magnussen currently teaches applied percussion at California State University at Northridge, his alma mater. He is the author of a book on programming electronic samplers.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

Saturday, September 22, 8:30 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood

The Magic of John Philip Sousa

THE AMERICAN WINDS

LARRY CURTIS, conductor

RENEE SOUSA, soprano

PATRICK SHERIDAN, tuba

JOHN MAGNUSSEN, xylophone

SAINT-SAENS: Marche Heroique

WAGNER: Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral

WERLE: The Golden Age of the Xylophone

IRA HEARSHEN: Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa (Scherzo after "Fairest of the Fair")

JOHN DANKWORTH: Decline and Fall of a Bridge; Czardas; Estrallita; Hailstorm; Flight of the Bumble Bee

Tickets ($1-75) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations) or online at www.hollywoodbowl.com. Groups of 10 or more may receive a 20% discount on single ticket prices; call 323/850-2050 for details. For general information or to request a brochure, please call 323/850-2000.

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contact:

Elizabeth Hinckley, 213/972-3034; David Barber, 213/972-3084

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